The Trial of Remy D.
When a weary South Dakota rancher is chosen to defend humanity from annihilation, his only evidence is the life he knows: calving disasters, inherited debt, a dead father’s pickup, and the strange mercy of caring for creatures destined to be lost.
The story is complete; its text is not currently available on this site.
Behind the story
I submitted this piece to the 2026 Halifax Ranch Fiction Prize. I learned of the opportunity at the same time I was reading Tiang Chiang. Much of my practice, to this point, was about creating realistic dialog. However, I was blown away by Chiang’s first piece in Exhalation: Stories, “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate”. It is basically one person, telling stories within stories, in the 2nd person.
I challenged myself to do something similar: a solo speaking character, 2nd person perspective, a scifi “framing” on a rural slice of life, and a story within the story told three times. The Trial of Remy D was the result.
One other reference worth mentioning was Claudia Landreville’s Calving Journal. Growing up, the men would linger in the church vestibule, sharing their cow stories and shaking their heads in equal measure. I searched the web something similar to get the experience right. It was Landreville’s expressive, heartbreaking, and (ultimately) hopeful account that moved me. Seriously, go read it.
And now I wait. Depending on how the competition goes, I may post a copy to this website in the future.